Our Beliefs

This church is part of the religious movement known as "Disciples of Christ" or "Christian Church." We share the basic tenants of our Denomination (One GOD, through Jesus Christ only as the path of Salvation with baptism of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus Christ  being a public display of one's faith and communion being a vital part of reminding ourselves that we are sinners in need of a Savior (Jesus Christ) to save us. We cherish the fact that we can agree to disagree on theological beliefs and still love one another, respect one another and worship the same GOD.  This movement was born shortly after the American Revolution, in 1809. It is the largest Protestant communion founded on American soil. This movement arose as a protest against the sectarianism of the 19th century which had divided and weakened the universal church. Our pioneers, led by Thomas and Alexander Campbell, presented a plea and a plan for Christian unity on the basis of the restoration of New Testament Christianity. It was their hope to restore the spirit of Christ as authority in the church instead of demanding submission to councils, creeds, or ecclesiastical hierarchies. This remains the hope and program of this church and will continue to be so. We believe the divisions among the churches to be wrong in the sight of God and against His will for the church on earth. See Ephesians 4:4-6; John 17:20-21; Romans 12:4-5. We believe that "the Church of Jesus Christ on earth is essentially, intentionally and constitutionally one." Each Disciples of Christ or Christian Church is autonomous in its governance and is controlled by its local congregation without fear of a governing board in another location telling it how to spend its money,  which preacher to hire etc. We believe there is a strong need for Christians to be united in their efforts to spread God's love by utilizing our gifts, talents and resources. Our Denomination enables us to combine in our efforts in the mission field, Christian camps, educational facilities, fellowship, support of one another and many other opportunities in spreading God's love and word to all the world as commanded in the great commission. We acknowledge that each of our churches will have different interpretations of God's word and that we will not always agree on every aspect of this interpretation, but we vow to be in covenant with each other to love and respect all of God's creation. There will be times that we will agree to disagree, but we will always seek to share God's love to each and every person we encounter.

Specifically, we believe:

We believe the Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired by the Spirit of God, and it contains the instructions from God on how to have joy in this world as well as eternal salvation. We believe the Bible reveals the principles by which God will judge us, which will decide our eternal fate. We believe the Bible is the source for all authority and governance of the church and all human conduct, creeds, and opinions should be formed using God's Holy word. (II Timothy 3:15-17; Proverbs 30:5,6; Romans 2:12; Philippians 3:16; I John 4:1).  We believe in the virgin birth, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is our Lord and Savior. We also believe that no one comes to the Heavenly Father except through Jesus Christ his only begotten son and our Savior. (Ephesians 2:8-10; John 3:16; Philippians 2:6,7; Isaiah 53:4,5; Hebrews 1:8; 7:25, John 1:16; Acts 13:39).  We believe that the church was founded on the day of the first Pentecost as recorded in the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles. That Christ has sole authority in the church.  (Matthew 28:18 and Ephesians 1:21-22).  Christ is our creed (Matthew 16:16) and head of the church (Ephesians 5:23). That Christ established two ordinances within His church on earth; Baptism and the Lord's Supper. We believe in baptism as immersion in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 8:38-39; Romans 6:3-4), but we recognize other forms of baptism. We believe in observing the Lord's Supper every first day of the week (Mark 14:22-25; Acts 20:7; I Corinthians 10:16, and 11:23-24).

We believe that God has commanded that no intimate sexual activity be engaged in outside of a marriage between a man and a woman. We believe that any form of adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality. bestiality, incest and pornography are sinful perversions of God’s gift of sex. (Gen. 2:24; Gen. 19:5-13; Gen. 26:8-9; Lev. 18:1-30, Rom. 1:26-29; I Cor. 5:1; 6:9; I Thess. 4:1-8; Heb. 13:4) We also believe that God has commanded us to love, welcome and receive everyone into his church, so we open our doors, arms, hearts and communion table to all that seek to worship and serve the God that created us all. Love and Joy for everyone will abound in God's church at Proctor Memorial as we walk together and seek to do his will. (John 13:34-35)  Click on the link below for clarity on who can hold leadership positions.

Link to our Leadership Policy Page